All posts tagged Central Bank

This week’s shake-up at the United Arab Emirates’ central bank could have a big impact on local financial-system oversight, but the ripples might not spread as far as they normally do when a policy-setting chief is replaced. Read More »

The United Arab Emirates’ central bank will need to keep a close watch on soaring housing prices in the country and possibly tighten existing prudential measures as inflation is expected to rise further, according to the Institute of International Finance (IIF). Read More »

After all the political drama this week – Egypt’s government abruptly resigned and a new interim prime minister was appointed; the growth-starved, inflation-affected Arab economy has to decide today on another key matter: interest rates. Read More »

A deadline is fast approaching for Dubai to repay $10 billion of aid it received in the midst of the financial crisis five years ago, but analysts expect the due date to be extended this week without much fuss. Read More »

While the U.S. and Europe have struggled with slumping housing markets since the financial crisis of 2008, Israelis have been grappling with the opposite problem: real estate price surges that have pushed prices up about 80 percent in the last seven years. Read More »

“It looks like the decision was prompted by the weakness of recent hard activity data, as well as the prospect of further financing from the Gulf,” an analyst at London-based Capital Economics said in a client note.

Cutting relatively high interest rates in an economy growing at a little over 2% with an unemployment rate in double digits and climbing is usually a no-brainer. But the politically unstable country has a bigger problem – inflation. Read More »

New caps on mortgage lending will soon come into force in the United Arab Emirates, part of a long-running effort by the country’s central bank to keep real estate markets in check and avoid a debt-fueled bubble. And not everybody’s happy.

While the limits apply to all of the U.A.E.’s banks, they’re seen as largely aimed at Dubai, where a recent Standard Chartered report estimated apartment prices went up by about 38% year-on-year in October. Damac Properties, one of Dubai’s most active developers since prices started to recover, has been especially vocal about what it sees as unwarranted timidity by banks and a lack of mortgage lending to non-residents who make up a major portion of buyers and investors.

“Not everybody can come straight into the market with $1 million and buy a property with cash, in full,” Damac Managing Director Ziad El Chaar said prior to the approval of the limits. After the announcement of the caps, he said that while he welcomed the central bank’s attempts to regulate the market, “this new system does not include any guidelines for banks to provide a pragmatic and practical non-resident mortgage, which we believe is required to attract a more international investor base.” Read More »

That’s because Ms. Flug, for the foreseeable future anyway, is seen continuing with the monetary policies of her predecessor. And that means keeping interest rates relaxed enough to spur economic growth and making modest interventions in foreign currency markets to weaken Israel’s strong shekel and keep the country’s exporters competitive. Read More »

On the eve of a long-expected announcement Sunday about a new central bank chief to succeed Stanley Fischer, came a new surprise: according to Israeli media outlets Laurence Summers declined a effort by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to recruit the former U.S. Treasury Secretary for the position.

Whether confirmed or not, the suggestion that Mr. Netanyahu would suddenly look past a handful of finalists for the job to Mr. Summers highlights his thirst for an economist with the international gravitas that Mr. Fischer brought to the Bank of Israel in 2005 when Mr. Netanyahu appointed him as finance minister. Read More »